Wwise CUBE 2019 – CHAPTER 08 A: Armour – Player Character

Created By: Game Audio Resource Ltd     Date: 08/08/2019      Version: 2.00

In this guide we will implement generic leather armour Audio assets to trigger as the player character moves. In time with player character footsteps hierarchy.

 

Guide Steps:

• STEP 01: Wwise Hierarchy
• STEP 02: Test & Integrity Report

Task Time Needed: 1 hour

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Video Guide

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Written Guide

Chapter 08 A – Step 01
Wwise Data Hierarchy

In this step we will set up the require Wwise data

Hierarchy

1. Navigate to the Project Explorer > Audio Tab > Actor-Mixer Hierarchy > Armor Work Unit.
   Right Click, then select New Child > Actor-Mixer
   Name it Armour_Leather_Player
2. Select the Armour_Leather_Player Actor-Mixer container. Then in the Property Editor > Output Bus assign the Armour bus. Master Audio Bus > SFX > Armour
3. Right click the Armour_Leather_Player Actor-Mixer, then select New Child > Switch Container
   Name it Armour_Leather_Player_Movement_Fast

• NOTE: We will add switch properties later in this guide

4. Right Click the Switch Container, then select New Child > Sequence Container
   Name it Armour_Leather_Player_Movement_Fast_Sequence
5. Like the footstep hierarchy in Chapter 07 A we will now add a silence container.
   Right Click the Sequence Container, then select New Child > Sound SFX
   Name it Silence
6. Select the Silence SFX, then in the Contents Editor click the Add Sources button, then select Wwise Silence
7. Add One-Shot Armour movement audio assets to the Sequence Container
   In the Import window, add the assets to SFX > Armour > Leather
8. Now we can assign the playlist in the Contents Editor, add asset 01, then Silence, then asset 02, then Silence, etc…

• TIP: Ensure the hierarchy playlist is the same as the footstep playlist for the player that we implemented in Chapter 07 A. e.g. Asset, Silence, Asset, Silence. NOT: Silence, Asset, Silence, Asset.

9. Finally, copy the Silence SFX into the Armour_Leather_Player_Movement Switch Container.

Assigning Switches:

1. Select the Armour_Leather_Player_Movement_Fast Switch Container.
   In the Property Editor > General Settings tab > Switch > Group click the arrow button. Then assign to: State Groups > Default Work Unit > PlayerInWater
2. Assign the Default Switch/State to: No
3. Then in the Contents Editor drag the Silence on to the Assigned Objects Yes
4. Then drag the Armour_Leather_Player_Movement_Fast on to the assigned objects None and No

Sound Event:

1. In the Project Explorer > Events tab, locate the Foot_Player Event
   (Under Events > Default Work Unit > Footstep)
   Select the event
   In the Event Editor list, Right click, then select New Action > Play
   Select the new play action, then change the Fade Time to 0.3

• TIP: This allows a natural fade in for the armour movement

2. With the event properties displayed, navigate back to the Armour_Leather_Player_Movement_Fast Switch container, in the Actor-Mixer hierarchy.
   Then drag it on to the target path of the Foot_Player Event.

Positioning:

As the player is always in front of the camera, all sounds on the player character do not need 3D attenuation’s in single player games.
However, the Cube game does have a game mode for multiple player. 3D attenuation’s would be needed if you choose to showcase any multi-player footage.

Balancing:

1. Select the Foot_Player Event, then click play in the transport control. (or press space on your keyboard)
2. Change the volume of the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy Armour_Leather_Player Actor-Mixer to match the footstep volume.
3. Add any other balancing changes you wish to add, E.g. random pitching.
4. Save your Wwise project updates, then Generate the sound banks.

Chapter 08 A – Step 02
Test & Integrity Report

We will now quick check that our Wwise updates are correctly working in game

1. Boot up the game and connect Wwise.
2. Change Wwise to the Profiler Layout.
3. Move the player character around the map.
   Should now hear the armour and footstep audio assets trigger with each footstep.
   Also, if you test a water map, you will notice armour assets stop playing when the player character is under water.
4. Once you have the settings and balancing that you like Save your Wwise project updates and generate the sound banks.
5. Finally, run an Integrity Report to check for hierarchy errors.

-TIP: If you find the armour and footstep assets go out of sync, each content plays one after the other. Simply close and relaunch Wwise, this will bring the sequence playlist back into sync order between the 2 content types
To avoid this issue you permanently could add the armour assets to the footstep hierarchy (instead of a separate Armour WWU and assign them to the sequence footstep list.
We have only listed Armour in a separate WWU to aid a simple broken-down approach for this chapter (08) guides.